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Work in offices covers a large part of the working life, as offices are the place where more than half of the world#s population spends more than 90% of their working hours. Adequate workspaces help to increase the productivity and satisfaction of their occupants, as well as their heath, well-being, and quality of working life. However, work in offices can include different types of activities. In the present doctoral thesis the concept of work patterns is used to refer to #different configurations of work activities considering the dimensions of task complexity and the interaction with other people at work.
The general objective of this doctoral thesis is to study the relationship between the physical context of the office, and the well-being and performance of the employees who work in them. Furthermore, it analyzes the moderating role of work patterns in these relationships.
To this end, 5 research studies were designed that covered this objective. First, a theoretical conceptualization article that highlights the need to study work patterns in organizational psychology. Second, a cross-sectional study with more than 1000 participants that allows to test the relationship between the perception of physical stressors and one of the main indicators of work performance (ie, absenteeism), in different work patterns. The third study has a diary design that allows a more in-depth analysis of the relationship between the perception of physical stressors and work performance, using multilevel and multigroup structural equation models (ie, patterns of work). The fourth study tests,
also from a multilevel approach, the moderating role of (mis)fit between work patterns and type of office, in the relationship between different types of well-being and work performance. Finally, the fifth study is oriented to a more detailed analysis of one of the relationships found in the previous study: the relationship between flow and work performance. To do this, latent growth curve models has been used. These models
allow the study of dynamic relationships between variables.
The results of this thesis allow us to conclude that organizations have to offer optimal office spaces (in terms of environmental conditions and office type). Spaces must be constructed and (re) organized taking into account the needs of the workers (in terms of their work patterns), thus facilitating the increase of their well-being, and the achievement of good levels of sustainable well-being and work performance over time.
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